Lynas is preparing for growth and required a locked-down, dedicated network to support significant increases in global network traffic envisioned. The company is about to offer the first new production of rare earths outside of China in the third quarter of this year and chose NTT Australia, a subsidiary of NTT Communications, to deliver the solution.

The elements are in short supply worldwide and Lynas is said to own the richest known deposit of rare earths in the world in Mount Weld, Western Australia. The company is building a concentration plant near the mine site and a state-of-the-art rare earths processing plant, the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP), in Malaysia.

The company required a network with a global footprint, but it proved to be a sticking in the search for an ICT partner, said Lynas infrastructure manager, Gillian Kidson.

“The provider that we approached originally was unable to deliver all the services we required, including in Malaysia," Kidson said in a statement. "This was a critical location for us and we knew we needed a provider that could cover our critical geographies and beyond.

“We didn’t want to break up the components and needed a single provider.”

NTT Communications initially came on board to resolve the company’s data centre problems in Malaysia. Based on that relationship, the integrator was briefed on the global solution.

Kidson said she was also impressed by NTT Communications’ swift response to the global brief.

“Within a couple of weeks of our first meeting we had most of the requirements and design signed off,” she said.

The project began in mid October 2010 and the first phase of service for most sites was completed one month later. Perth sites came online in early December, followed by the Kuantan office in early January.

“Throughout the rollout we worked closely with our project manager and a talented engineering team who were able to deliver all services as per the project plan,” Kidson said.

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